by Tamie Dearen
“We’re not at the healing house... Correction—we’re not at the healing house where the suspicious woman resides.”
“Then where are we?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t ask. I’ve not been allowed out of this room.”
She digested this new information. What else did she need to know?
“Is Vindrake dead? I mean, I’m not sure how they would have killed him since he’d done something wonky to his skin so he couldn’t get cut. It was just like what that Abaddon guy did. Remember? And here we were thinking it was such a good thing we’d found metal blades that would transport. Meanwhile, Vindrake does this black magic voodoo, and we would’ve been better off with ceramic blades, after all. So, is he dead, or not?”
Kaevin was silent, but she felt his muscles tighten.
“I’m guessing we didn’t kill him, huh?”
“They thought he was dead, but now they believe he lives.”
She blew a piece of hair off her face. “That’s okay. I’m happy just to be alive and away from him.”
“Brightness!” He slammed his hand down on the bed. “You can’t know how I longed to go after you. But no! I was confined to this bright bed. I would’ve cut off my arm for an opportunity to kill him—to wipe his evil from the face of Tenavae. Instead, I lay in this bed, imagining how he might be torturing you. Reaching out and feeling nothing, knowing you were hiding your pain from me. I wish you’d never been taught how to properly use your gift. At least before, I could share your pain, even when we were apart.”
What can I say? If I tell Kaevin everything Vindrake said... everything he did... he’ll only be more angry and frustrated.
“It wasn’t so bad, this time. He mostly just threatened me.”
Kaevin raised an eyebrow. “If you looked in the mirror you wouldn’t bother lying to me.”
She gave him a playful punch, careful to avoid any bandaged areas. “Ha! You lied to me too. You told me I didn’t look bad.”
“No, I said you looked beautiful to me. And I didn’t lie.” His lids closed halfway across his deep green eyes, as his lips grazed her cheek.
Feeling cherished, she nestled against him, grateful that the grown-ups had allowed them to be together. Though their separation had been rather short, the soulmate bond felt totally depleted. Thinking of Vindrake’s threat, to allow them to die slowly from separation, sent a shiver down her spine.
He hugged her even tighter, rubbing her arm. “I was so afraid, Alora.”
“I know—I felt your fear. I wanted to help you feel better, but I couldn’t.”
“I don’t fear death. I don’t fear battle or pain. I have no fear of Vindrake or anything he might do to me. But when I woke up and learned he’d taken you, all I could imagine was more of the last time...” His voice cracked. “I wish I could talk to you about it. But I know you have to avoid those memories, so your control will be effective and your stored pain won’t exit all at once.”
“Actually... I’m pretty sure it’s all gone now. As best I can tell, I’ve got nothing stored up anymore. So we can talk about it, if that will help.”
“It’s gone? All that pain is gone? How did that happen?”
“Laethan didn’t tell you? It was genius, really. First, he used his empathy gift so Vindrake would let him get close to me, and then he grabbed my hand and... Zap! He knew just how much pain I could handle and live through it, and I guess he sent as much as he could to Vindrake, ‘cause we were all three screaming bloody murder. Of course, Laethan had to endure it, too. Thank goodness, I finally blacked out. I don’t know what happened after that, but I’m assuming that’s how they got me away from Vindrake. I can’t believe Laethan didn’t tell you.”
Kaevin looked away, blinking a little too fast for normal.
“What? Did Laethan pass out, too?”
Kaevin nodded, and she saw his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.
“He’s not awake yet?”
“Alora... Laethan has passed on.”
“No.” The room spun in a circle. She struggled to suck in a breath. “No, he can’t be dead! No, no, no... I need him. He’s the only one who understands my gift. No. Please, no...”
She didn’t know she was crying until a cold teardrop ran into her ear.
“Laethan knew the danger and accepted it. He made a choice. As would any warrior.”
A horrible realization made her heart turn over inside her chest.
“I killed him.”
“No, Alora. Don’t speak it.”
“My pain killed him just like a bullet from a gun. It should have been me that died. He took my pain, to spare my life and save me from Vindrake.”
She felt Kaevin’s arms tighten, but this time he didn’t argue. They both knew it was true. A minute passed and she felt him shake as they cried together.
“It was his choice, Alora. His decision wasn’t made in ignorance. He knew precisely what would happen.”
His shirt was wet with her tears now. She was afraid to ask, but she had to know. “Did anyone else die trying to rescue me? Uncle Charles? Arista? Wesley? Brian? Mera? Or Beth? What about Beth?”
Please, God, let the answer be “no.”
“What about me?”
Beth marched into the room and rounded to face them, shaking her finger like their middle school principal, Ms. Murkwater. “Kaevin BarGraely, how long were you planning to wait before you told us Alora was awake? Don’t you realize everyone is upstairs, fretting?”
Discretely wiping his eyes on the back of his hand, Kaevin returned a weak smile. “I’d wager Jireo’s not worried in the least.”
Beth winked. “No, you’re right. Wesley hauled him upstairs so he could watch Netflix with him and Arista. But Mr. Whitford is on his umpteenth cup of coffee, trying to stay awake until Alora comes to. And A.J. is using Alora as an excuse to avoid Mom’s list of honey-do’s.”
“Where are we?” asked Alora.
“You know how A.J. remodeled the house when he moved in with us? Well, this was part of it. We’re in the basement, but he totally redid it. Now it’s like a secret medical ward. He’s been stocking medical supplies, and he can handle most stuff right here. Although he can’t do general anesthesia or major operations. It’s too bad he didn’t have it ready before the last time you were in the hospital. Markaeus would’ve made the portal here, instead of in your hospital room, and the nurse wouldn’t have gotten all suspicious.”
“I wish! That would’ve been awesome. But at least if we stay out of the hospital now, we can avoid that reporter,” Alora commented.
“Oh, I’ve been doing a little research on Sergeant Justice. He’s a real slime-ball. I’d like to knock his little toupee right off his noggin.”
Alora giggled at Beth, who mimed punching him out.
“Well, as long as I’m down here,” said Beth, “I need to let your grandmother know you’re conscious. She’s sitting with Meravelle in Bardamen’s room.”
Alora sensed Beth’s anxiety when she mentioned Bardamen.
“Is Bardamen okay? I mean, I know he must’ve inhaled some smoke, but he’s going to be fine, isn’t he?”
“To be honest, A.J. doesn’t know why he’s not waking up. Laethan said he might be able to help him, but now...” Beth’s voice trailed off, and she cleared her throat a few times, while studying her feet. When she looked up, her eyes were shining with tears. “I really liked Laethan. He wasn’t ever grumpy with me, and he taught me a ton of stuff. It’s crazy, because he doesn’t even live in my realm, but I’m going to miss him. A lot.”
“I know.” Alora fought back a fresh wave of tears.
“Anyway,” Beth sniffed, backing out of the room. “I’m going to have fun being Paul Revere.”
She disappeared, feet pattering away on the concrete floor and, after a few seconds, her voice echoed back down the hallway. “Alora’s awake!”
~22~
The big funeral ceremony in Glaenshire was moving and even beautiful, in its
own way, but Alora was still kind of creeped out by the whole funeral pyre thing. And Beth agreed with her.
“I guess it’s not any different than when somebody over here gets cremated,” Alora reasoned.
“Yeah,” said Beth. “But in our world, we don’t have to watch them do it. It’s all done behind closed doors, and we have a nice urn and a beautiful picture to look at.”
“I think it’s cool.” Wesley plopped onto the couch beside Kaevin, and put his feet up on the coffee table for an instant before returning them to the floor. He glanced at Beth. “Sorry, it’s a bad habit. We don’t have nice new furniture at our house.”
“To tell you the truth, I kind of preferred the old junky stuff. It gets old having to be so careful with everything. But I’m happy for Mom—she’s never really had nice things before.”
Nodding, Wesley said, “I totally get it. My mom says she’s not bothering to get any more nice furniture until I’m out of the house. And that’s fine with me.”
“Back to the funeral,” Alora interrupted, planting herself on Kaevin’s other side and sliding her fingers to lock with his. “Wesley, it doesn’t bother you when they light a pile of bodies on fire? Doesn’t that seem kind of gruesome? No offense, Kaevin...”
Her soulmate merely smiled.
“It might if they weren’t all covered up,” Wesley replied. “But it just seems kind of symbolic to me. I mean, the smoke rises up in the air, like it’s going to Heaven. Doesn’t that seem better than sticking a body down in the ground so it can slowly rot away? I’d rather go up than down.”
“Speaking of bodies...” Beth kicked off her shoes before crawling into an overstuffed chair. Are you really going to transport all those Stone Clan people back to Laegenshire, Alora? Including the dead ones? Do you have enough strength or whatever to do that?”
“I actually look a lot worse than I feel. And I’m not even using my gift to mask the pain this time. My shoulders are still pretty sore from being tied up, but nothing’s broken. Doc says when the swelling goes down on my face, I’ll look okay—maybe have a couple of scars from the deeper gashes.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing Kaevin’s already stuck with you, since you look like you had a fight with a barbed-wire fence and lost.” Beth giggled as she dodged the pillow Alora threw.
“Thanks a lot.” Alora packed her words with sarcasm, but she honestly appreciated her friend’s lighthearted jesting. Beth always helped her keep things in perspective. “And I may have to see a dentist, because one of my front teeth got hit pretty hard, and it’s still hurting.”
“Ugh! I hate the dentist,” Wesley replied around a mouthful of M&M’s from the package he’d carried to Glaenshire to “keep my energy up during the funeral.”
“Not too surprising,” Beth remarked. “Personally, I love my dentist, and I’ve never had a cavity.”
“I figure a trip to visit the dentist can’t be as bad as visiting my father.” Alora’s wry humor was lost on Kaevin, who sat white-faced and quiet, trying to hide his pain, exacerbated from today’s funeral trip. She used her gift to share some of his discomfort, hiding her grimace behind a fake smile. “So I’ll be fine transporting everyone about. Kaevin, on the other hand, probably shouldn’t be moving around... even this much.”
“I’m fine,” he protested. “And stop doing that. I don’t need your help.”
Alora was distracted when Markaeus and Arista walked through the room, chatting in low tones.
“Hey! Where’re you two going?” Alora called out. “You look like you’re on a secret mission.”
“We’re going through the portal to take these to Glaenshire.” Arista held up a stack of papers. “Beth, did you want to come and give them to Mera yourself?”
“You have a gift for me?” Meravelle swept into the room, somehow managing to look sophisticated, despite her short stature, tight curls and turned-up nose. “I came to say farewells to everyone.”
Alora caught Beth’s eyes and nodded. They both knew Mera had come to say goodbye to Bardamen, who still hadn’t awakened, much to Doc’s frustration.
Beth snatched the papers from Arista’s hands and held them out to Meravelle. “Here you go. It’s just photocopies, so they might be a little harder to make out. But most of the images are pretty clear. And I can always blow them up larger if you have a hard time making out the writing, not that I can make heads or tails of anything.”
“What is this?” Mera frowned at the stack of papers in her hands.
“It’s photocopies of the Maladorn Scroll. When Markaeus fetched it from the Craedenza, I took pictures of the whole thing. I think most of them are in order, but of course the images will overlap and some of the writing will be repeated from one page to the next—”
“A miracle!” Mera’s smile was huge. And genuine. It was the first Alora had seen on her face since she woke up in Montana. “How can I ever thank you? You may have saved Tenavae from Vindrake.”
“And me, too.” Markaeus pushed his lower lip out. “I’m the one who brought the scroll here.”
“Well, I’m the one who stole it from Vindrake in the first place,” Arista declared.
“Yes, Arista. And how long would you have kept the scroll secreted away in your room?” Entering the room on crutches, Jireo’s teasing tone had a slight edge to it. Only one of Vindrake’s three shots-in-the-dark had hit him, so he’d been really lucky—or unlucky, depending on your perspective.
“So, you can read this, right?” Beth asked Mera, pointing at the pictures. “Because we really need to know how to reverse Vindrake’s bloodbond.”
Mera’s smile faded. “I can’t read the scroll’s writings... not yet. These things take some time. But I’m gifted in languages and wisdom, and I promise to study until I can interpret the words.”
“This version of the scroll isn’t making me sick,” Alora remarked.
“Nor do I feel the same draw as from the Maladorn Scroll.” Mera eyed the pages, frowning. “I must protect these from damage. It would be a tragedy to lose these writings again.”
“Oh, it wouldn’t be a big deal,” said Beth. “I’ve got the images backed up in the cloud. I could always print some more.”
Mera stared, her gray eyes wide, uncomprehending.
Beth chuckled. “Never mind. All you have to know is I can get you as many copies as you need.”
Speechless, Mera could only shake her head slowly from side to side.
Smiling at her astonishment, Alora stood and walked toward the basement door. “Come on, Meravelle. Leave those on the table and we’ll go see Bardamen.”
“I’m so grateful,” said Meravelle, joining her on the stairs. “For all of you.”
“No, I’m the one who’s grateful,” Alora insisted. “You risked your life for me. You were so courageous, walking into Vindrake’s camp all by yourself.”
“I was terrified.”
“Yes, but you came anyway. And you didn’t even have a weapon.”
“I have no gifting in strength or weapons or agility, so it would not have served me well to bring a blade along. But I wasn’t without defense.”
“Really?”
“I’m gifted in wisdom, and I carried it with me. It is both my weapon and my shield.”
“It must be nice to have a gift that can’t be stopped by a piece of iron around your foot.”
“Gifted or not, wisdom should always be your primary weapon. Without it, you’ll never succeed, no matter your strength or prowess with a blade.”
“Even after all of this—Vindrake’s attack, burning your town, threatening the Craedenza—you don’t wish you knew how to fight with a sword?”
Mera laughed, holding her hand on top of her head to indicate her shortness. “With a sword in hand, I might slice a warrior’s knees. With wisdom I can cut off the head.”
“Hmmm...”
“However, I’m always willing to learn a new skill, as learning is part of wisdom.”
“Okay... fair e
nough.”
When they entered the room, Doc was sitting in the overstuffed chair by Bardamen’s bed, watching his chest rise and fall.
“Still no change?” Alora knew the answer, but she had to ask anyway.
“Nothing.”
Alora would’ve known how discouraged Doc was even if her gift hadn’t told her. He stood up, holding his hands on either side of his head like it might fall off.
“I just don’t get it. He didn’t go that long without breathing. We got him out of there really fast.”
“Maybe the smoke?”
He shook his head. “There are signs of severe smoke inhalation, and he doesn’t have them. I think he breathed some smoke, for sure, but he’s been on oxygen for days now. He’s breathing on his own. His heart is beating on its own. There’s just no reason he shouldn’t wake up.”
“Did Laethan have any ideas?” Alora asked. “Before he died.”
“Laethan? He’s infuriating!” Doc let out a few colorful words as he jumped out of the chair, but Mera didn’t react. Hopefully she didn’t understand American curse words. “We made plans together—to teach each other. He knew I didn’t understand all this witch doctor stuff. That man had no right to go off and die.”
In the awkward silence that followed, Alora fought back her grief. She felt much the same way as Doc.
“I’m... uhh... sorry for my colorful language.” Doc had the good grace to blush—rather amazing, since he usually didn’t seem to notice when he used curse words. Maybe Janice was starting to have a good effect on him.
“So I guess Laethan didn’t tell you how to wake Bardamen up?”
“All he said was ‘Bardamen is gone, as Alora was gone.’ And then he said something, like Han Solo would’ve said, about life force.”
Alora moved closer to the bed, reaching out to touch Bardamen’s cold hand and resisting the urge to shake him awake. “We’re hoping Nordamen will know what to do as soon as I take him back to Laegenshire.”
Doc waved his hand to offer his chair to Mera, who hadn’t said a word the entire time.
“I’ll be honest, Alora. His respiratory rate is dropping, and we don’t have any way to keep him breathing here. I can take him to the hospital or you can take him to Laegenshire. But we have to do something within the hour because I can’t sit here and watch this man die in my basement.”